Hotels, holidays and the pre/post baby time shift..

Having recently been away for the weekend to celebrate the birthday of Mrs Funkdydaddy I got to thinking about the differences between before and after baby. This was the little lady’s fifth hotel stay in just 8 1/2 months, lucky girl, this also gave me perspective.

Leaving on the Friday for a quick 2 hour drive we all had the buzz of anticipation even though it was a hotel we had stayed at 4 times previous. When we arrived my first thought was, as before baby to get bags to room and go to bar for a drink, no, not happening. Now it was time to go to the pool and play for a while (which was actually brilliant). Then off to the bar for a quick drink before getting ready for dinner.

At this stage and as its a weekend I now have a key concern with hotels, will it be quiet? Will there be any hen/stag parties? weddings? Heart in mouth as you listen for noise whilst getting ready and when returning to the room in the evening.

Getting ready for dinner no longer entails lounging around the room relaxing and watching the TV, that’s for two reasons, firstly there’s the little person who needs fed, dressed and most importantly, amused. Secondly its because you have to eat so early to fit in with little ones feeds and changes but mainly I subconsciously think we do it to keep the other guests happy in case she kicks off!

So off we go for dinner and the restaurant is empty which is great as you get served quickly and are able to order little items for the baby i.e mash, fruit etc. By the time we finish dinner most people, and us pre baby, are just arriving for dinner. Again we have the benefit after dinner of being able to get a quick drink in the bar before bed at roughly 9pm. Pre baby we would still be having dinner at 9pm and awaiting a few drinks and entertainment after dinner. Now the entertainment is playing the babies “are you asleep/are you not asleep” game followed by creeping around the room in case she wakes whilst watching some random TV.

Then we get up, early, on the Saturday and repeat the process with the drive down being replaced by a little trip to a nearby town for lunch. We did get some heavy snow on the Saturday morning which was lovely and luckily the hotel had a soft play area for children which helped us.

So for the near future we are resigned to the day starting a few hours earlier and finishing a few hours earlier and, having completed this cycle a few times now, its fantastic and I feel that I get so much more from the days away and truly enjoy the trip! (Not having to cook or clean up helps too though 🙂 )

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